Themes of betrayal and loyalty anchored the affective polarization seen in the 2025 Philippine midterm elections

28 Jul 2026

Before the 2022 Philippine presidential election, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte formed a strategic alliance, combining two of the nation’s most formidable political dynasties under a campaign promising stability and unity. Although this UniTeam coalition achieved a decisive electoral victory, its demise was apparent in 2024, triggering visible affective polarization.

This article deals with emotions and politics. Long has it been held that we need to sideline emotions and be “more rational” especially in dealing with matters of governance and politics; but perhaps in the growing uncertainty and crises in our contemporary world, we ought to deal with emotions and politics as they are real experiences that inform the way we act and react. Dealing with how emotions play a role in the 2025 Midterm Elections in the Philippines, the article asks us to be introspective and see how emotions drive the ways we see our place in the political spectrum in the country, and how, then, do we feel about those on the other side(s). With the break-up of the UniTeam in the lead-up to the elections, how then do we see emotions playing out in the ways Bongbong Marcos and his supporters dealt with the Dutertes and their supporters. Here, I argue, we see the relevance of betrayal and loyalty as important facets that anchored the affective polarization seen in the elections.

This particular piece is significant both on a theoretical and an empirical level. The study of emotions remains an emerging field in political science and international relations, especially in the Philippines. Within this broad research agenda, we find works that deal with affective polarization and tackle how emotions play a role in understanding political polarization. This particular field is very much underexplored in the Philippines, and the 2025 midterm elections show its relevance in our context. On a theoretical level, my article finds its significance in its attempt to locate affective polarization in the Philippines and invites other similar studies that deal with emotions and politics. This will prove to be an engaging and fruitful research endeavor. In an empirical and methodological sense, this work also invites innovations in ways we approach and analyze data to understand political phenomena in the Philippines.

Author: Aaron Abel Mallari (Department of Political Science, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/component/get/23418

Image by Kimy Moto from Pexels

Themes of betrayal and loyalty anchored the affective polarization seen in the 2025 Philippine midterm elections

Before the 2022 Philippine presidential election, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte formed a strategic alliance, combining two of the nation’s most formidable political dynasties under a campaign promising stability and unity. Although this UniTeam coalition achieved a decisive electoral victory, its demise was apparent in 2024, triggering visible affective polarization.

This article deals with emotions and politics. Long has it been held that we need to sideline emotions and be “more rational” especially in dealing with matters of governance and politics; but perhaps in the growing uncertainty and crises in our contemporary world, we ought to deal with emotions and politics as they are real experiences that inform the way we act and react. Dealing with how emotions play a role in the 2025 Midterm Elections in the Philippines, the article asks us to be introspective and see how emotions drive the ways we see our place in the political spectrum in the country, and how, then, do we feel about those on the other side(s). With the break-up of the UniTeam in the lead-up to the elections, how then do we see emotions playing out in the ways Bongbong Marcos and his supporters dealt with the Dutertes and their supporters. Here, I argue, we see the relevance of betrayal and loyalty as important facets that anchored the affective polarization seen in the elections.

This particular piece is significant both on a theoretical and an empirical level. The study of emotions remains an emerging field in political science and international relations, especially in the Philippines. Within this broad research agenda, we find works that deal with affective polarization and tackle how emotions play a role in understanding political polarization. This particular field is very much underexplored in the Philippines, and the 2025 midterm elections show its relevance in our context. On a theoretical level, my article finds its significance in its attempt to locate affective polarization in the Philippines and invites other similar studies that deal with emotions and politics. This will prove to be an engaging and fruitful research endeavor. In an empirical and methodological sense, this work also invites innovations in ways we approach and analyze data to understand political phenomena in the Philippines.

Author: Aaron Abel Mallari (Department of Political Science, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/component/get/23418

Image by Kimy Moto from Pexels